


No Tears In Death

by royalreddeath



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, KH3 spoilers, as are the rest of the apprentices, xemnas barely talks, zexion is technically there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 08:38:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17680130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/royalreddeath/pseuds/royalreddeath
Summary: Lea and Isa died, they're coping.It's not technically LeaIsa/AkuSai, but everything I write is kinda gently there so I'll tag it anyways.





	No Tears In Death

Black coats weren’t what they would ever be used to, Lea was going to make sure of it while Isa made sure they had a plan with the new turn of events. They were dead? Killed? 

He was a little hazy on the details, but he knew he had something robbed of him. Had this happened to her too? He hoped not. It didn’t seem likely or else she might be there too. Somewhere. Maybe she was… Isa seemed convinced that this was the only way to do it and Lea so wanted to find the girl. They never even got to know her name, only that she knew she’d been called “X” previously. 

But he found he couldn’t care as deeply as before, couldn’t long to help as much as he had. There was an emptiness in his chest as he looked around for Isa, finally spotting him with that awful scar on his face. So that part hadn’t been a nightmare that consumed the rest of his memory, it was a memory that had done that. 

Lea recognized that he should be feeling terrified, but again the pang of an empty chest hit him as Isa walked calmly over.

“We’ve been called for, Lea. Let’s go. Xemnas wants to see us.”

“Xemnas?”

“His name now.”

“Who’s?”

“Xehanort. X-e-m-n-a-s.”

Lea took a moment to figure out why his friend had spelled the name out then had the connection hit him. “Ansem. Why the X?”

“I’m unsure, Lea.”

“Why are your eyes a different color?”

“What?”

“Your eyes aren’t…”

“Inconsequential. Let’s go.”

“Alright, okay. I got it, walking dictionary. Let’s go meet with Xemnas.”

The two walked side-by-side as they walked the halls of their new home. Radiant Garden was gone in the blink of an eye and they were ushered to a new world, full of white creatures that moved unnaturally. Some of them seemed like long snakes when they were moving quickly and humans when they weren’t. Everything was so white and Lea wondered briefly if he should find it unsettling.

“My chest hurts, Isa.”

“Yes, we were stabbed.”

“Did they really do that to your face?”

“No, Lea. I did it myself.”

“Did you?”

“... No. You don’t sound much different, do you not feel it missing?”

“My heart? Yeah, I know. It’s hollow in there. Hurts.”

“You’re still acting like yourself.”

“Probably something about being used to one thing even with the other?”

“Hm. Probably. Try not to cry when we’re talking to Xemnas, then.”

“Hey.”

“You don’t have your marks right now, I don’t know how you’ll respond to anything.”

“I won’t go in there and cry, Isa.”

“You never know.”

They entered into the room Isa led Lea to and looked up at the circle of thrones surrounding them, Isa’s eyes directed almost immediately to the man in the tallest one while Lea’s eyes locked with Ienzo’s. All three of them were kids, but Lea only felt the crushing weight of a hollow chest.

“It is on this day that we welcome our two newest members to the coat, our friends, No. VII and No. VIII, Saïx and Axel.”

Lea’s eyes finally moved away from Ienzo to look up at the man who was speaking. Axel? Was that supposed to be him? 

“What’s with all the Xs?”

Lea’s question got no response, but he was curious. Isa’s face, the girl, their names having the letter thrust into them… It was all too much to not be important. Xehanort’s name? That began with an X? 

He looked to Isa who was bowing and Lea decided to follow suit. Isa must’ve come up with some kind of plan to get them out of this or help them find who they were looking for. Their original plan was so out of reach, Lea was glad Isa was able to think this fast in such a terrible situation. 

They left the throne room with Xemnas leaning on his fist while smiling. It was unsettling to see, the smile with nothing behind it, and Lea knew that somewhere deep down.

“Axel.”

“Huh?”

“That’s your new name. Again with the X.”

“My name is Lea. Your name is Isa. I don’t want to be Axel.”

“Do you care?”

“Yes.”

“Do you really?”

“No, but I’m Lea.”

“Are you? Lea and Isa died, didn’t they?”

“Isa, shut up.” He was used to saying that with more fire behind his voice, more snap to his words. Instead, he just sighed, defeated and empty. “Do you know where rooms are? I’m tired. I want to sleep.”

“Yes, I was told.”

Again, they walked empty halls together. Long, terrible, empty halls that felt as hollow as Lea did. He wanted to hate all of this, but it just echoed in his chest as he blankly stared forward. 

“This is your room, Lea.” Door opened into a depressingly empty place. There was no life in the castle at all, none.

“Thanks.” 

Walking in, he expected Isa to leave him alone, but instead his friend followed him in and sat on his bed. Isa crossed his legs and leaned his arm against his leg and his head on his hand. “Our plan is simple this time.”

“Our? You apparently came up with one while I was still out.”

“For some reason, you didn’t wake up immediately, Lea. I was planning for the worst. That is not what we were looking for when we joined as apprentices, not a permanent death for you.” 

“Or you.”

“Of course.”

“I need to figure out where she went, Xehanort’s nobody would know.”

“Nobody?”

“That’s what we are. It’s what happens when strong hearts become heartless apparently. We weren’t close enough to them to really know enough about it, but Braig filled me in while you were asleep.” Isa rubbed at his face, obviously physically uncomfortable. “The plan is I get close to Xemnas. Like what I was trying to do to the other apprentices.”

Lea reached over to place a hand on Isa’s shoulder, assuming comfort was needed. Isa shook his head. 

“We can’t feel anymore, you know that already, don’t you? You can feel the absence of your heart?”

“Yeah. I’m empty. It’s…” Somehow, tears formed in his eyes. The pangs of emptiness shook him in a way no emotion ever had. “I don’t know why I’m doing this.”

“... Do you need them?”

“I’m not sure.” Lea reached up and touched his cheek with a gloved hand. “These don’t feel like anything.”

Isa moved so he was facing away from Lea, towards the wall instead. “C’mon. I’ll get our hearts back. And we’ll find her.”

Lea nodded and wiped away empty tears, sitting on the bed then laying his head backwards into Isa’s lap. 

Isa called for a Dusk, asking it to retrieve something purple and waterproof to draw with, figuring there were enough of them to spare. It didn’t take long for the creature to return with something in hand, giving it to Isa then leaving.

It was something they’d done plenty of times before, when Lea got worked up and needed to calm down or when Isa needed to calm down and didn’t want to admit to it. Lea waited patiently as the feeling of something on his cheeks moved around to draw upside-down tears, thin tears unlike the childhood ones that took up almost every inch of Lea’s face.

It made their chests echo even louder because it didn’t comfort either of them, but it was a good reminder to Isa of what he was fighting for.

“Now, no more crying. Can’t let them see how weak you are, right?”


End file.
